Dickey Betts - Dickey Betts & Great Southern

I was pretty excited to find this. Dickey Betts is a pretty amazing guitar player and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He and Duane were early pioneers of dual lead guitars in rock - oddly enough there was a time when it seemed like every southern band except Skynyrd had to have two drummers too. After Duane's untimely death Dickey would take over as the the band's lead guitarist. His work on "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica" are enough to earn him a place at the head table.

When I found a really decent copy of Dickey Betts & Great Southern I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hoping for some hidden gems. Not having credits was a bit irritating, but not insurmountable, as the internet is a treasure trove of great and useless information.

According to what I could find there are seven members, including two drummers (nice) but the front and back cover only has six guys. Maybe the drummers had to flip a coin to see who could have their picture taken. In addition to Dickey Betts,"Dangerous Dan" Toler provided the second guitar and background vocals. Tom Broome was on keyboards and background vocals, with Ken Tibbets on bass. Then there were the drummers Jerry Thompson and Donnie Sharbono.

So how is it?

Well, I'll start by prefacing everything I write from this point by stating, I'm not a big fan of The Allman Brothers, so I'm not drawing on a lot of personal experience with the band's catalogue. It has more to do with what I was exposed to as a kid, and what my friends listened to. Of course "Ramblin' Man" was a song I was familiar with, and I like it, until the end solo work overstays its welcome and starts sounding like a skipping record and just doesn't know when to stop. Sacrilege I know, but it is what it is.

I'm trying to say I'm not an expert on all things Allman Brothers, or Dickey Betts, I'm just a guy who found an album that looked interesting, and it had a name I was familiar with on the cover. It seemed like it was worth the dollar I'd be paying to get it home.

The first time through I was kind of distracted and while it played through it was enjoyable but it just seemed sort of generic and rather uninspired. It was like the cover image, a bunch of dudes just chillin' drinking Jack and having a good ole time.

The second time through I paid more attention to what was going on, and I started to get into what I was hearing. A couple more times through and I was starting to connect with the songs. The musicianship here is stunning, but never so in your face that it detracts from the songs. Dickey Betts' signature slide work on the opening cut "Out to Get Me" sets the tone for what's going to follow. While he is known for his guitar playing, he has a great voice that really accentuates the emotional elements to the songs. His lament on "The Way Love Goes" underpins the song, and is one of my favourites on the album.

Throughout the album there are wonderful little dual leads that drive the songs and then Dickey will step forward and take the solo and drive it home. A great example of this interplay is on the first cut on side two "Nothing You Can Do" a song I really liked - except for the fade. It's kind of hard not to just summarize the songs as they play, after all, the album is too short, with only seven songs it clocks in at just over half an hour.

I will admit that with repeated listens it got better and better, but it was as a listening experience - there really aren't any hidden gems that truly out-sparkled the rest of the songs. The closing track is probably the closest they came with the slow and smouldering "Bougainvillea" that was co-written by a young Don Johnson (yes, that Don Johnson), who also provided backing vocals on the song. The song features some great guitar interplay between Dickey and Dan Toler and was a great way to close out the album.

So back to the initial question. How was it?

The album didn't have any filler, I like some more than others, but there aren't any duds either. In terms of gems, they weren't hidden - they were out in the open. Which is a good thing after all I don't want to see Dustin Hoffman sitting in a dentist chair being asked by Laurence Olivier if it's safe.

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